John henry neaye



(Model.)

J. H.. NBAVE.

METHOD OP AND APPARATUS FOR FINISHING FELT. N.@71,351. Pq Patented Ja,11.30,1883. A

NTTED STATES ATENT OFFICE,

JOHN IIENRY NEAVE, OF MACOLESFIELD, COUNTY OF CHESTER, ENGLAND.

METHODOF AND APPARATUSVFOR FINISHING FELT.

SPECIFICATIN forming part of Letters Patent No. 271,851, dated January 30, 1853.

Application filed February 13, 1882. (Model.) Patented in England May 11, 1881, No. 2,051.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JOHN HENRY NEAvE, of Macclesfield, in the county of Chester, in the Kingdom ot' England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Method ofand Apparatus for Finishing Felt, (for which I have received Letters Patent in England, No. 2,051, dated May 11, 1881,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention consists in a new method of and apparatus for finishing felt goods.

Hitherto felt has been nished by subjecting its surface to a grinding operation, commonly known as pouncing, ot' such character as to cut away the extraneous ends ot' the fibers and produce a smooth, uniform surface, after which the surface was subjected to a longcontinued ironing operation to produce the required gloss or polish thereon. My new process dilfers4 from the old in the highly-important particular that I do not grind or cutaway the protruding ends of the liber, but, instead of so doing, drag or pull the ends ofthe iibers outward beyond the body, so that they will lie upon the surface and form a nap. By my process, indeed, one can take a felt hat which has no nap and draw a nap out till it resembles a beaver or silk hat with a copious long dense nap of bright, polished hairs. The process is most successfully carried out by bringing the hats or feltl goods into Contact with a rapidly revolving abrasive surface 5 or the same result may be obtained by bringing the prepared surface into contact with the felt, revolving at sufcient velocity, or by means Vof emery and glass, rouge, or other abrasive powder inserted between the felt and covering-surface while said felt or covering-surface are revolving. This may be accomplished by holding the felt goods against a stone, emery-wheel, or cylinder covered with sand, glass, or emery, or other suitable roughened or cutting surface, prepared in such a manner as not to possess too great a cuttingpower, but revolving with sut-v iioient velocity-say three thousand or more revolutions a minuteor by means ot' emery, sand, glass, rouge, or other suitable powder inserted between the hat and coveringsurface, while the said hat or covering-surface is revolving, to produce a smooth feeling and polished surface on the hat operated upon, at the same time, however, possessing sufficient vroughness to not merely polish the hairs, but

acter than those used in the ordinary grinding I or pouncing operation 5 and particular attention is to be paid to maintaining them in such condition that they will take a tirm hold upon the fibers and, without severing or cutting them loose, draw their ends outward beyond the body of the felt. In the manipulationof the felt particular care is to be takento so graduate the 'pressure as to avoid a grinding or cutting action such as Would remove the ber. sought in mind, the operator will quickly learn to loosen and draw out the ends of the fibers and leave them on the surface in the shape of a thick polished nap. The product presents to the eye a strong resemblance to fur, and is without the smooth, hard surface presented by felt iinished in the usual manner. For this purpose machines of various designs may be used. A simple form for such machine is shown in the annexed drawings, Figure-1.

A is a shaft, supported by pedestals or frame work, marked B. At one end of the shaftis fixed a drum or vcylinder,(l, covered with a prepared surface oi'graded powdered glass,emery,sand, Aor other' similar material. D D are fast and loose pulleys for driving the shaft A. AWhen revolving with sufficient velocity the hat or other goods to be operated upon is placed upon the rest E and brought into contact with revolving cylinderb` by the operator placing his foot upon the treadle H, by means of which the amount of pressure on the hat may be regulated. The hat or other piece of felt or felt vgoods will be drawn slowly over the rest E by the friction of the cylinder O, and will be guided and controlled by the hand of the operator, who will be able to pass the felt article round until the whole is operated upon.

The size and shape ofthe drum and rest may be varied iu any way for greater facility in getting the shape ofthe hat or other goods operated upon. This may be especially desirable in iinishing ladies hats and other fancy shapes. The tip of thehat may, however, be more readily Having this precaution and the endv operated upon by placing the hat over the rest J in such a way as to bring the inside of the tip against the rest, and by means of the treadle and connecting-rods M bringing the top or crown of the hat against the disk K, which is covered with a similar surface to thedruni or cylinder C. The hat will be similarly drawn round by the friction of the disk K, and will be guided and controlled by the hand of the operator.

The rests E and J are pref'erably padded with an air-tight india-rubber padding filled with air, as in sectional views 2 and 3. The air inside the pad quickly adjusts itself to any inequality in the felt, and will cause an even surface always to he presented to the cylinder or disk, and insure an equal bright polish upon all parts of the surt'ace of the felt. This pad is covered. The rests E and J are by preference covered with a pad. vAsa matter of convenience, the drum or cylinder C is placed outside of the pedestals or frame-work which supports the shaft A; but it is obvious that the 'same result might be obtained by placing it ietween these pesdestals.

The pressure of the hats or other goods against the drum and disk may be regulated by a spring or tension, instead of the treadle arrangement, when found more con venient, and

many other modifications of thenmchine may be made. y

lf it be desired to finish the goods while they remain upon the block, this may be accomplished by bringing them while upon the block into contact with the drum or'eylinder covered with the prepared surface.

Various known methods may be adopted for keeping the oval block against the drum with an equal pressure; and the drum may be made concave or convex,'or any other shape to correspond with the shape of the block; and the disk K may also he made to correspond with the shape of the block, which may be placed upon the rod `P in place ot' the rest J, and the hat while upon the block thus be brought into contact with the disk and the tip operated upon 5 obtained, as desired, and according to the degrec of tineness of the stone, emery, glass, or other material used for the roughened surface, a longer or shorter nap orl pilemay be obtained and a greater orless degree of luster or polish obtained. By this process are capable of being produced an unusual gloss and softness and iineness of touch. This process of finishing is equally applicable to felt cloths;

dimensions it will be desirable to have a roller covered with the prepared surface of the saine width as the cloth to be operated upon. This roller being driven at a rapid speed and the cloth pressed against it and allowed to travel at a uniform but niuch slower speed, the piece will be operated upon through its own length. Instead of employing a treadle, the pressure of the cloth against the polishing-roller may be more easily regulated by means of a rest or roller fixed rigid in proximity to the polishingroller, or pressed against it by means of levers and weights, or by springs or tensions, or in any other convenient way.

1t' an embossed or deeply-cut roller or block be used for the cloth or article to pass over or be placed upon when pressed against the polishing or cuttingA roller, drum, or surface, patterns ot' various designs may be produced.

I claim as my inventionl. As a new article ot' manufacture, the heren-desc'ribed felt, consisting of a close web or body having on its surface a nap consisting of polished ends of hair or fiber extending out of and beyond the body'portion.

2. The improved method of nishing` felt to produce an artiticial nap thereon, consisting in subjecting the felt surface to the action of an abrasive surface and graduating the speed and pressure, as described, in connection with suitable backing, whereby the ends of the fibers are drawn outward beyond the body of the felt, leaving them upon and attached to the surface in a polished condition.

3. The method of finishing felt, consisting in drawing the ends of the fibers outward and beyond the body,leaving them attached thereto at the inner ends, substantially in the inanner herein `set forth.

` JOHN HENRY NEAVE. lWitnesses:

Jai/tes W. ALsor, J. O. OBRIEN.

y but instead of a drum or cylinder of narrow l IOO 

